100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature [Paperback]

Nicholas J. Karolides (Author), Margaret Bald (Author), Dawn B. Sova (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Scheduled for publication during Banned Books Week (September 25, 1999-October 2, 1999), this reference gives extensive insight into titles that historically have faced a high rate of censorship, both in the United States and abroad. The text is arranged in four sections, with titles divided by the main groundsApolitical, religious, sexual, and socialAfor censorship. Introductory notes for each section define what the book's authors mean by that type of suppression and summarize its history. Each title is identified by author, date and place of original publication, publisher, and literary form, and each entry includes a comprehensive summary of the text. These summaries are followed by a full censorship history and suggested "Further Readings" sections directing readers to accessible sources of additional information. By limiting the texts under consideration to 100, the authors are able to provide highly detailed accounts of each title's censorship history in what is surely the most exhaustive single-volume reference available. A valuable tool for those seeking information on particular banned books or on censorship in general; recommended for public and academic libraries. [This book is an adaptation of Facts on File's four-volume "Banned Books," LJ 6/1/98.AEd.]AKaren E. Sadowski, Simmons Coll., Norwood, M.
-AKaren E. Sadowski, Simmons Coll., Norwood, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

''. . . By limiting the texts under consideration to 100, the authors are able to provide highly detailed accounts of each title's censorship history in what is surely the most exhaustive single-volume reference available. A valuable tool for those seeking information on particular banned books or on censorship in general . . .'' --Library Journal --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 420 pages
• Publisher: Checkmark Books; 2nd edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816040591
• ISBN-13: 978-0816040599
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #645,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening; Essential Reading., April 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature (Paperback)

100 Banned Books is essential reading for anyone concerned about censorship and freedom of expression. The amount of research that Karolides, Bald and Sova have compiled is remarkably thorough. A fairly brief but highly illuminating summary is provided for each listed "objectionable" work, and the list is divided into four different categories of grounds for suppression: political, religious, sexual, and social. The reader is given insight into the mentality of the self-appointed dictators of public knowledge and cultural taste. Fear and ignorance; political and religious intolerance; outright bigotry. It is such un-enlightened mentalities, we discover, that at one time led to the suppression of such great books as The Bible, "All Quiet On The Western Front", "The Rights of Man", "Lady Chatterly's Lover", "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", "Leaves Of Grass", "Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl","Black Boy", "The Canterbury Tales" just to name a few. Ultimately, this book cultivates an appreciation for the freedom to express and exhange ideas, however controversial or unpopular some of those views might be. It also arms the reader with a vigilance to defend that freedom should they find it challenged by a political authority, religious institution, school board or a group of zealots. 100 Banned Books is destined to become a classic!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great Concept - Horribly Executed, April 15, 2005

By	Mills (Misawa, JAPAN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature (Paperback)

This a great concept of a book, but the scholarship, prose, and editing are all shoddy. Some facts are flat-out wrong, dates often have transposed numbers, entries are repetitive.

Some of the entries are misrepresentative of censorship trends. For example, there is an entry on Voltaire's "Candide." However, the only time "Candide" was ever censored (as far as my research can tell) is once in the 1930s when one shipment of French copies was stopped in American customs because of the pictures. So it's the *artwork* which was being censored, not the novel. Additionally, much of Voltaire's work WAS actively censored, both during and after his lifetime, but Karolides and crew fail to mention that.

My college Censorship Honors Seminar course used this book as a textbook and we spent most of our time wondering if the editor was asleep while proofing the text. It was horrid.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for First Amendment absolutists, December 16, 2000

By	Mrs. Donihue (Clear Lake Riviera, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature (Paperback)

If you are a wholehearted proponent of the First Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, this is a book you will find it
absolutely essential to own.

Nicholas Karolides, Margaret Bald and
Dawn Sova have compiled censorship histories of 100 books that have
been suppressed on political, religious, sexual or social grounds, and
they are truly eye-opening. Many of these books have been censored
within our own country, where freedom of speech is supposedly
protected by the First Amendment.

Under the category of religious
censorship, not only have documents challenging the major world
religions' accepted beliefs come under fire, but these religions'
essential works -- the Bible, the Koran and the Talmud -- have also
been supressed at some point in history.

Works suppressed on sexual
grounds run the gamut from mild language or situations to depictions
of explicitly violent and humiliating sexual acts. While I find the
latter absolutely abhorent and choose not to expose myself to this
type of content, "100 Banned Books" is a valuable reminder
that, regardless of your personal opinion of what is not appropriate,
it is all to easy to cross over the line and try to deny others access
to these materials.

Read this book to familiarize yourself with
past instances of censorship, and then look in present-day society for
examples of ongoing censorship attempts. The results will truly be
eye-opening.